Mamata Banerjee on Sunday asked Narendra Modi to stop “shedding crocodile tears”, alleging that his concerns for the dignity of the women were fake, which she said the “sting operation” in Sandeshkhali had revealed.

The Trinamool Congress came out firing on all cylinders on Sunday — in Bengal and the national capital — to claim that the Sandeshkhali controversy was orchestrated by the saffron camp as the “sting operation” suggested the allegations of sexual crimes were false.

The Bengal chief minister and Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tore into the BJP from their election rallies over the “revelations” in the video.

Mamata alleged that the video — which purportedly showed local BJP leader Gangadhar Koyal claiming that no woman had been raped in Sandeshkhali at all — brought to the fore the conspiracy of the BJP to malign Bengal and its women, which the people would never forgive and give the party a fitting reply in the next five phases of the Lok Sabha elections.

Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee speaks at an election rally in Panighata, Nadia district, on Sunday Picture by Abhi Ghosh

“Could anyone imagine what happened in Sandeshkhali? The PM cried crocodile tears here in Bengal claiming he was affected by the pain of the women. But did he see how the entire Sandeshkhali incident was orchestrated using money power? Money may come and go but the dignity of our mothers cannot be returned if once gone. Do not insult the women of Bengal, I warn you,” said Mamata at Labhpur of Birbhum.

While the Trinamool chairperson questioned Modi’s honesty on the issue, Abhishek also tore into Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose over the allegation of sexual misconduct against him to raise questions on the Prime Minister’s sincerity on the security and dignity of women.

“It is shocking that he has tarnished the prestige of the position of governor. He has molested a woman who is of his daughter’s age. The woman lodged a police complaint against him and the next day the governor fled Bengal,” he said, demanding answers from the BJP on the matter.

The chief minister alleged that “shameless lies” had been scripted by the BJP by paying money to some people to
besmirch the reputation of Bengal and to toy with the dignity of women.

“A woman could be financially weak but she cannot compromise with her dignity and modesty for money,” she said.

Speaking in Nadia’s Kaliganj, Abhishek urged the people to vote against those who had been maligning Bengal. Referring to the video, he said: “It has already been proved enough that the BJP has been making tireless efforts to malign the image of Bengal.”

“The propaganda of the BJP has been leaked. While being enslaved by the top leadership of the party in Delhi, the Bengal BJP leaders have sold the dignity of women in the state just for Rs 2,000. Even BJP’s Basirhat candidate Rekha Patra compromised with the dignity of fellow women for just Rs 2,000,” Abhishek later said in Samsergunj of Murshidabad.

Addressing a news conference in Delhi, Trinamool said the BJP had harmed Indian women by orchestrating this controversy.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party have through this fake Sandeshkhali narrative created circumstances where if a woman goes to complain about rape, people are going to cite this to not take them seriously,’’ Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale said. “This has done a great disservice to women.”

Giving the Prime Minister the benefit of doubt that he may not have known of the fabrication, Gokhale added: “If he has an ounce of integrity left in him, he would apologise.”

The video, said Bengal industry minister Shashi Panja, proved that the Sandeshkhali controversy was a sinister plot.

“This is a huge conspiracy fabricated by the BJP…. Women have been misguided. Women have been tutored to say these lies for money; they were tricked into it.

Why was this done to Bengal? Because Mamata Banerjee believes in women’s empowerment and all the schemes have empowered women,” she said.

Questioning the BJP’s strategy of running down the state to fight a political battle, Gokhale said the BJP was welcome to fight the political battle, but fabricating rape charges to malign Trinamool and Bengal was not acceptable.

“To say Bengal is where mass rapes happen, you are targeting not just the Trinamool but also the entire state and its people,” he said.

Additional reporting by our Delhi bureau